Cell Phones de-activating passes?

[Okiemom]

I read here somewhere, where people are having trouble with their passes. The CM was saying it was their cell-phones. I was planning on carring mine too, but can they not be in the same bag together?

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

They "can" demagnitize the passes, but it is not soemthing that happens all the time... Simply having 2 cards together with the magnetic strips facing each other can do this too... Most of the demags come from magnetic money clips (something people don't even think about as they put their ID cards with their cash)... With that said, I have never seperated my cards from anything and we have never had a problem, not to say that we never will, but it has never been an issue. I would say you are safe to have the phone in the same bag, just make sure the ID cards are in a zipper section (not free floating in the bag)...

 

[Lynn4Mel]

It happened to my pass when we were there a few weeks ago. I noticed it trying to get into MK. Had all ready used it once. That night when we got back to the resort I went to the check in and got a new card and they also gave me little cardboard type sleeves to put the card into so it wouldn't happend again.

Now if you are carrying around an extra battery for your camcorder or digital camera in the same place as your card the same thing will happen like the cell phone battery.

 

[Okiemom]

We are getting our passes at the resort, so I will ask for the cardboard holder you are talking about. That sounds like a good idea.

 

[MareSINY]

I demagnetized 2 cards when I was there in September. I had my card in the same pocket as my cell phone, not realizing that was a no no.

 

[Wendy1953]

Also recommend that you place the magnetic strips in different directions if carrying more than one card.

 

[Hopefully]

I de-magnetized mine 3 times in October - so annoying!!! It wasn't until I replaced it the 3rd time that the CM mentioned the cell phone issue. I also had the cardboard sleeve after the 2nd time and it still happened again. My son had his cell phone with him and it never happened to him, so I don't know!

 

[phamton]

Mine demagntizes several times a year. I've had my WDW annual passes reprinted six times this year alone. I just used mine today at MGM and it was demagnitized again! I carry it in the cardboard sleeve and it still happens. There are no other cards in the sleeve with it. My Universal Studios annual pass is over 2 years old and it has never demagnitzed. It is like credit card and very year, when I renew they just change the expiration in the computer so I keep using the same card. No problems at all with it, just my Disney AP.

 

[ECurto]

My room key demagnatized 3 times in october. Very annoying, and yes it was b/c it was in my pocket with the cell phone.

 

[Geoff_M]

If you're a fan of Mythbusters on The Discovery Channel, you'll know just how hard it is to erase the encoding on magnetic strips. They were investigating the old legend that wallets made from electric eels will demagnitize the strips on credit cards. They, not surprisingly, found that they could not reproduce this legend in their shops using eletric eel skin. It was busted.

If you watch the show, you'll know that they ususally don't stop with showing that a legend is a myth... they will take it to the next level and try to see what it would actually take to make the outcome in the legend happen. So, they tried to figure out ways to erase the encoding on plastic cards. They tried rubbing two cards together strip-to-strip, exposing them to toy magnets, etc. In every case the tests failed to erase the cards. The only thing that they found that would wipe the cards were they powerful "degaussing" magnets (AC powered) that are made to erase magnetic tape and computer floppies.

At this point I'd consider it a CM legend that cell phones can de-mag the cards. If toy magnets don't do the job, I can't see how a weak RF signal from a cell phone could. I'd would suspect that it's anocodotal since people often carry cells in the same places as their park tickets, so people assume it the phones. As for spare batteries, there's no magnetic field around a battery that's not in use.

It's true that the mag strips on card do occasionally go "bad" (we had an AP go south once), but the Mythbuster guys showed that it's pretty hard to make it happen from an external source.

 

[CF'er]

I love the Mythbusters!!! And you're right, they don't just do the myth they totally go above and beyond.

Thanks for the info.

 

[frayedend]

If you're a fan of Mythbusters on The Discovery Channel, you'll know just how hard it is to erase the encoding on magnetic strips. They were investigating the old legend that wallets made from electric eels will demagnitize the strips on credit cards. They, not surprisingly, found that they could not reproduce this legend in their shops using eletric eel skin. It was busted.

If you watch the show, you'll know that they ususally don't stop with showing that a legend is a myth... they will take it to the next level and try to see what it would actually take to make the outcome in the legend happen. So, they tried to figure out ways to erase the encoding on plastic cards. They tried rubbing two cards together strip-to-strip, exposing them to toy magnets, etc. In every case the tests failed to erase the cards. The only thing that they found that would wipe the cards were they powerful "degaussing" magnets (AC powered) that are made to erase magnetic tape and computer floppies.

At this point I'd consider it a CM legend that cell phones can de-mag the cards. If toy magnets don't do the job, I can't see how a weak RF signal from a cell phone could. I'd would suspect that it's anocodotal since people often carry cells in the same places as their park tickets, so people assume it the phones. As for spare batteries, there's no magnetic field around a battery that's not in use.

It's true that the mag strips on card do occasionally go "bad" (we had an AP go south once), but the Mythbuster guys showed that it's pretty hard to make it happen from an external source.

I saw the mythbusters also. I would be willing to bet that the cell phone in the pocket is actually scratching the magnetic strip. I know you can kill the strip on a credit card by using it way too much, or by going way over your limit

 

[Okiemom]

Now I am worried, I don't want to have to spend time at the office getting new passes, I want to be on rides!

 

[eab]

Any precautions at the airport wiht the screening 19 days and counting. Want to hit the park ASAP

 

[phamton]

Well I know for a fact mine wasn't demagnitzed by a cellphone. Honestly, none of my credit cards have been demagnitized and as I mentioned my Universal Studios annual pass has never demagnitized. All of them are plastic. I constantly have trouble with my Disney AP. It isn't getting scratched or bent or even exposed to water or magnets or cellphones. It looks brand new but mysteriously stops working. I think that the AP themselves are cheap or the strip isn't heavy enough. If it doesn't happen to my credit cards or Universal Studios AP, then I can only surmise that it is a problem with the quality of the AP.